Reflection
by Dom186
Summary: Bella's first day in Forks ends in disaster due to a meeting with Edward in the woods. Now a newborn Vampire, she awakes surrounded by golden-eyed strangers, and must quickly get used to strange new instincts and a terrifying new power.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer : Not mine.

It had been a sunny day when I died. Knowing how rare true sunlight is in Forks, I'd been thankful for the chance to catch a glimpse of it as I lay on my back in the forest, Edward skin's glittering as he drank my life away. I don't think I'd ever seen such a beautiful sight.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The sequence of events that brought me to my present state, that of Vampire, started earlier that day.

It was my first day in Forks, and, sitting forlornly on my brand new purple bed-cover, I was already questioning my decision to move here.

The decision to move in with Charlie had been an easy one back in Phoenix, my mother's involuntary smile when she realized she could have her long awaited honeymoon with Phil had been the only sign I needed to confirm my choice. She had fought long and hard against it of course, but ultimately relented when she saw I wasn't about to change my mind. She recognized the Swan brand of stubbornness when she saw it.

The sun had been up on our drive over here, which I think Charlie took as a good omen, as he told me to enjoy it while it lasted while wearing a rare smile. The two-hour drive from the airport to the house had held a different connotation for me altogether. The deeper we went into the mountains and wilderness, and the longer the awkward silence between me and Charlie lasted, the more I felt like a prisoner being led to his execution. I pictured all that I was leaving behind, the sun, the closeness my mom and I shared, the comfort of my room, of the _known_; and, as I looked out the window to the sad and greying town of Forks, enclosed within an unassailable barrier of trees ands rocks_, _I started feeling cold dread seep into my limbs.

Shaking my head to clear out the depressing thoughts, I looked out the window of my room, and felt instantly better when my eyes fell on a big red truck, _my _truck. A gift from Charlie, it was a godsend, gracing me with at least a level of independence, not to mention it was my first car.

I was suddenly hit with the need to go driving.

My sour mood forgotten, I leapt up from my bed with the grace of a drunken rhinoceros, and went down the stairs. Of course, me being me, I missed the last step and went sprawling at the bottom.

The loud crash alerted Charlie, who came instantly rushing in from the living room.

"Holy Crows Bells! Are you okay?" he shouted, as he went to help me.

Embarrassed, but unharmed, I waved him off, and stood while brushing myself off.

"I'm fine Dad, you know me, if there is something to trip over in a five mile radius, you can be sure I'll be there to trip over it" I answered him, hiding my embarrassment behind self-deprecation with long acquired ease.

Reassured, Charlie smiled.

"That, I do remember. I still have nightmare about that ice-skating rink incident when you were seven you know" he said while chuckling.

I remembered the ice-skating incident with extreme clarity, as one the most excruciatingly embarrassing moment of my young life (and that was saying something, given how prone to tripping, falling, and fumbling I was).

Now beet red, I smiled back.

"Well at least, there was no need for firemen this time"

"Ha! And thank god for that… you're sure you're okay though? Because we can be at the hospital in…"

I hastily cut him off "Really, Ch… Dad, I'm fine, and I really don't want to go to the hospital on my first day" I said seriously.

Seeing my face, he hastily backtracked.

"Okay, okay Bells, no hospital, it's just… I'm glad you're here, I've missed you kiddo" he said finally, in a soft voice.

Touched by this uncharacteristic display of emotions from Charlie, I took a few steps and gave him a hug, which he returned, holding me tightly.

"I've missed you too Dad" I said, my face pressed against his heart.

After a few moments, we both let go, feeling better yet decidedly awkward, neither of us being used to big displays.

Charlie recovered first, "So where you off to? You need a ride?"

"Actually, I thought I'd go and test out my new truck, maybe go to the reservation to thank Billy" I answered, pushing a little more excitement than I felt in my voice.

"That's a great idea Bells, I'm glad you like your truck. And if you're going on the reservation, be sure to thank Jacob too, according to Billy, he redid most of the engine himself, you remember Jacob don't you?"

"Sure I do, and I'll be sure to thank him" Truthfully, I remembered very little of my time in Forks, but I wasn't about to tell Charlie.

"Okay then, be sure to be back by seven"

"Sure" I answered as I opened the front door.

Then, just as I was about to leave, standing on the threshold I was hit with a wave of nostalgia and longing, that I was unable to explain.

Possessed by a strange instinct, I turned around, and called to my father's retreating back "I love you Dad", after that I quickly closed the door, embarrassed by the strange outburst, and having no idea of its provenance.

Half an hour later, I was heading North on the I-95 and completely lost.

After a grand tour of Forks which took all of fifteen minutes and was eminently depressing, I'd decided to make good on my word and head to the Quileute reservation to thank Billy Black and his son. The truck itself ran like a dream, a big, slow and rusting dream, but I was still very happy with it.

Of course, it was only later that I realized that I had no idea of which way to go, and that I was pretty sure I'd missed an exit somewhere.

Bringing me to my current position of being lost.

Suddenly, and out of nowhere, a deer bolted right in front of my truck. I screamed and instinctively swerved to avoid him, the tires screeched and I suddenly felt myself being thrown against the cabin amid a deafening metallic roar.

After a few moments to compose myself, I took stock of my body, and apart from some pain in my arms and back, I was reassured that I was unscathed.

Still slightly dazed, I got out of my truck and saw that its side was pressed against the emergency barrier, which had saved me from plowing right into the forest that surrounded me. I also noticed that the engine was starting to cough out a worrying black smoke, and that there was no sign of the deer.

I looked to the side and saw that the thin metal barrier had indeed saved my life, for there was a downward hill full of roots, mud and trees directly beside me, on which I would have surely broken my neck.

Getting out my phone to call Charlie, and walking back to my truck, I tripped over an errant rock, and as I stumbled forward, I felt my phone slip from my grasp, fall over the barrier and roll all the way down the muddy slope.

"Raah!" I cried out in frustration, but the adrenalin from my most recent brush with death was still pumping, so I hastily crossed the barrier, and went after my phone. And of course, for the third time that day, and despite being careful, I slipped on some moss, fell flat on my back, and began rolling down the hill, not dissimilarly to my cell phone.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and got on my knees. I felt like my entire body was bruised, and a sharp biting pain was making itself known on my right wrist, I saw a gash, which was dribbling a steady flow of blood down my hand to the mud beneath.

It was the sight of blood, and the unpleasant sensation it had always brought me that finally broke my composure, and I felt it all come crashing down on me.

The loss of my home, of my mother, even of my truck, the one thing I liked about this place, surged up in my throat, only to be joined by the fear, frustration and loneliness that I'd always felt as long as I can remember. It was too much. My eyes began to sting, and I felt hot tears on my cheeks.

I raised my hands palm up, and whispered a prayer to the wind "Please…" _take me away._

I looked up and that's the first time I saw Edward Cullen. Glittering in a ray of sunlight that I honestly thought had been sent down from heaven just for him, I thought him an angel. I was wrong.

EPOV

Of all the _gifts _I received when I was turned into a Vampire, there was only one that I could say I enjoyed without reservation, and that was my ability to run fast, faster than anyone. For, all the others were as much gifts, as they were curses; my mind-reading exposes me to an unending flow of thoughts, my unnatural beauty leads to the constant soulful looks and impure thoughts, my superior senses assault me constantly with the scent, sight, sound, feel and taste of blood. Running was pure though and I always let myself go a little when I run.

We were in the forest about three miles from our home when I heard the crash. I had been out hunting with Emmett and Rosalie, but had lost track of them about half a mile back, as I usually did, being faster and more prone to solitude than the rest of my family. I had also needed to distance myself because their thoughts had turned lustful and I was very aware of what Emmett and Rosalie liked to do after they hunted, often right in the middle of the woods.

It was just the three of us this time, Carlisle was hard at work at the local hospital, and Esme was off donating the weekly load of food we were forced to buy to keep up appearances to various soup kitchens. As for Alice, she had been out of sorts all week, claiming ominously that "someone was coming", while being unable to give any details. While the rest of us had been worried at first, after a week of being unable to see who this particular someone was, or indeed what they looked like, we relaxed and decided it must not be happening any time soon. All, except Jasper, who steadfastly remained by his wife's side, sending out wave after wave of calm and hope while she searched the future.

My superior hearing caught the faint sound of screeching tires and metal bending. Guessing that there had been a car accident of some kind, I debated what to do for half a second, knowing that if there was a lot of blood spilled I might be more of a threat than a help, compounded with the fact that if there was an investigation of some kind, I would be hard pressed to explain what I'd been doing running in the middle of the woods, miles from town.

In the next second however, I was assaulted with Carlisle's disappointed eyes, and knew that my conscience would not allow me to ignore a possibly dying human when I could help it. I took off running in the direction of the accident and was nearing what I believed to be the scene of the crash, all the while scanning for thoughts and finding none (had someone died during my momentary pause?), when my phone started ringing. The caller id said Alice, and I was about to answer it when I caught her scent for the first time.

I froze, my ringing phone forgotten. I had never smelled anything like this before, I couldn't distinguish or categorize any one scent in particular, and I didn't even try. This was ambrosia, the nectar of the Gods, not to be understood, only to be reveled in. I took a long deep breath and basked in the scent of what I knew to be the most delicious blood I would ever taste.

Everything was then forgotten. The love I felt for my family, the weariness of my existence, the incessant whisperings of my conscience, all of it was washed away. Here, in this sylvan atmosphere, everything that I had clung to for over ninety years, everything _human _disappeared. Leaving only the hunter, the beast, the predator. I took off running, leaving my ringing phone on the ground, _Alice _flashing on the screen.

The scent of my prey was getting closer and closer, and my mind was focused like it had never been before, I had a singular focus, in a way that vampires only ever experience in the middle of the most powerful bloodlust. And then, after what felt like hours but was probably mere seconds, I came to a small valley, and for the second time froze dead in my tracks.

I was at the height of a small valley right near the I-95, right underneath a beam of sunlight the first time I saw Isabella Swan. She was kneeling at the bottom of the valley, her bleeding palms held up towards me as if in supplication, her body and clothes were stained with grass and mud, all except for her face, heart shaped and pale as moonlight, warm brown eyes giving way to twin trails of tears rolling down her cheeks. I had never seen such a beautiful sight.

I wish I could say that my pause had been my struggling conscience trying to force my limbs to turn back, faced with the purest, most beautiful being I'd ever encountered, but it wasn't. I had accepted that this was to be my damnation, none could defile a being so clearly touched from God without burning in Hell. It was a hell I welcomed but for one taste of her blood. No my pause was simple admiration of everything I was about to ruin, her scent, her innocence, her mind, her life,

The beast I had transformed into drew its teeth, and coiled its limb in anticipation of a sign that would break this ethereal vision, and grant me the blood that I could feel _singing _inside me.

It came in a whisper carried by the breeze, a plea from the sweetest, most delicate voice I'd ever heard "Please".

That's it for chapter 1.

I've change the layout so now chapter 2 is actually chapter 2.

As usual, if you like it review it otherwise you're unlikely to see more of it.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer : Not mine.

The first thing I noticed in my new life was the light. It came streaming in from somewhere above me in a kaleidoscope of colors and I felt wonder. Then came the sounds, the forest conducting its strange symphony, and I felt wonder. My skin came alive next, I felt what a part of my mind identified as cotton draped to my frame and smooth and grainy wood below. I realized that I was lying down, and while my mind was still being enchanted by the discovery of the world around me, yet another part of it decided that I'd much rather be standing up. And so I was. Marveling at the way the dust particles danced in the light, it took me an eternity or maybe half a second to realize that I was neither in the forest as I had thought and that I was not alone.

I was in a light filled room surrounded by great windows, and by three individuals. At which point my wondering mind exploded, starting several different thought process at once. The predominant one was the fight or flight instinct that, even before I had registered the individuals as two blonde males and a tiny black-haired female, had me jump to the back of the room, crouch defensively and bare my teeth. For some reason, the thought occurred to me that this was a perfectly absurd reaction, but I couldn't really understand why as my instincts were screaming at me that the biggest potential threat to my survival was right in front of me and smiling benevolently. They didn't come any closer and had their hands raised in the universal "We mean no harm" signal. I considered bolting but seeing no clear openings I just stayed in my defensive position and stared. The three people were fascinating to observe, from their expressive eyes to the way the light hit and was refracted by their skin. I belatedly realized that the blonde one in front of me was moving his mouth which indicated speech.

"Isabella…Isabella can you hear me?" a strange tinkling voice could be heard as my hearing left the forest and came back to the room. I marveled for an instant at the way the sound bounced against various surfaces, straining my ear to see if I could follow it.

The name he'd uttered however, had a profound effect on me. _Isabella_. No, _Bella._ That was me. With that realization came a partial sense of self. I was a person, I had a name, to differentiate me from other persons. Like those people. Huh. Deciding I should acknowledge my new understanding, I responded.

"It's Bella" I chimed.

The answering bright smiles I got in return lifted me just a little, my crouch becoming slightly less defensive. The male who'd spoken took a few careful steps forwards.

"How do you feel Bella?" I liked hearing my name said out loud, like it made me real.

I tried to consider his question, while still fighting the urge to run, and still marveling at the light. But I just had too many different instincts, too many things calling my attention making feel different things at the same time.

"Mercurial" I answered while tilting my head to the side.

This also seemed to make him smile, lowering my guard a bit more. His compatriots seemed to be staying back, for which I was grateful, the scarred one on the left was the most glaring threat in the room I knew. Though how I knew that, I had no idea.

"That's to be expected my dear. Perfectly natural. Before we go any further however, I'd like you to do something for me if that's acceptable?" he asked in his musical voice.

Unsure where this was going I titled my head minutely once again.

"I'd like you to take a breath Bella"

I did it before I even thought about it. Sparing a strange thought to consider that breathing isn't really something I should be forgetting to do. Any further musings were interrupted by the discovery of this whole new sense. I inhaled deeply, bringing with me the sweet scent of my three companions, the medley that was the surrounding forests, and the edges of the town even further. It was on the exhale that I registered for the first time a sensation I would become intimately familiar with. A strange burning and scratching in the back of my throat, which seemed to get stronger every millisecond I thought about it.

I no longer felt mercurial, all I felt now was…

"I'm thirsty" I identified the ever growing sensation as I said it. Or growled it.

I started looking around the room frantically for something to drink, quickly dismissing all of my other thoughts in the frantic search. Finding nothing in the room I could drink, my senses extended outwards exponentially, searching for the as of yet unnamed source of my craving. I stopped for an instant on the babbling brook I heard in the forest. Was it water I _needed_? I was so thirsty. But no my mind supplied instantly, not water, something else. My mouth had started to fill with saliva that I swallowed back down uncomfortably.

"I know my dear, and if you will follow me outside, I can remedy that" he replied as he opened a window, still exuding a compelling kindness, though I heard a tinge of sadness in his voice as well.

I didn't linger on that however as my mind had instantly focused on what he had said. _Outside_ he said. It was there I could satiate the ever growing thirst that was quickly taking me over. As I was thinking this, I was already moving, ignoring the potential threats in favor of a greater instinct. I ran straight ahead, sidestepping the man in front of me with a graceful twirl and bounded out the open window. The audiovisual overload stopped me for barely an instant before I was again looking for…? What was I looking for? I didn't know, but I knew that I _needed_ it with every molecule of my being.

"This way Bella" the kind male said from beside me in the small garden, before running into the forest.

I quickly got up from my instinctive defensive crouch as I had lost track of him in my search and he had startled me. I debated whether following him was wise, before my need overrode my fear once again and I was quickly leaping after him. As we ran, the world sped by with astonishing speed, though why it was astonishing I still wasn't entirely certain. I knew that the man's two compatriots were running behind me and it made me highly uncomfortable but I ignored it in favor of running faster. The thirst was growing inside me, and I was afraid it would soon be unbearable. Though as we were running through the thick woodlands, my senses started to identify certain flavors in the air that were distinctly different from the others, along with certain sounds that rang louder. As the flavors were starting to coalesce into something musky and sharp and the sounds were reduced to a dull and rhythmic thumping, I felt that the answer to my thirst was just on the tip of my tongue.

Abruptly the man stopped running as we reached a small clearing. I came to a stop beside him half a second later and saw what he was looking at.

I then promptly forgot about him, his silent companions or anything else. I had leapt powerfully into the air, ripping out of the earth before even registering what I was seeing. It was in the air that I identified my _prey_, it had four brittle looking legs, soft brown fur and large doe eyes.

My perfectly timed jump had brought me straight on top of the animal and it was my bared teeth that hit first, ripping through pelt, skin and bone with absurd ease. Gripping the hysterical animal in a vice like grip, I started taking long, deep gulps.

_This_ is what I _needed_.

Bliss overtook me. Every cell in my body lighting up at once with the pure infusion of _life_. The warm blood rushing down my throat and spreading everywhere was resurrecting me. The earthy flavor in my mouth was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted I promptly decided.

It ended too soon and I left the drained carcass fall to the earth as I took in the world around me. Mostly freed from the overbearing thirst, my newly sharpened senses let me enjoy the forest as euphoria overtook me. I could identify every ray of the sun peeking through the thick underbrush, felt the slightest whisper of air on my skin, listened to the delicious cacophony of the fauna. I was enchanted and started twirling on my feet while staring at the light above. I let out a tinkling laugh.

"Bella" I heard from above. It was the man and his two companions, I had forgotten them.

I instantly crouched protectively in front of the deer carcass, irrationally thinking that the others were trying to steal my prey, _my blood_. It was at that point that the part of me that had been screaming in horror ever since I'd woken up finally broke through. While the blood still on my tongue told me that this had been the most natural act I'd ever performed, my mind was shouting that this was _wrong_, _wrong_, _wrong_! I had a flash of stern brown eyes and wild auburn hair. _My parents_. I was Bella _Swan_ and I had parents. And yet, I had a feeling I wasn't _really_, or rather not anymore.

"Something happened to me" was the conclusion my mind supplied. The instant flash of guilt in each of their faces was my answer.

"Yes Bella, and if you'll consent to follow me back to my home, I can answer all of your questions" he said, having advanced towards me slowly. I was struck by his beauty and his ethereal quality. I considered him and his companions more carefully.

"Who are you?" I asked rather forcefully.

"My name is Carlisle, and these are Jasper and Alice, two members of my family" he said while pointing to the tiny female and intimidating male. While the latter only gave a stiff nod, the former gave me a bright smile and waved prettily.

"Carlisle…Jasper…and Alice" I tasted each name on my tongue. I didn't trust them but looking at the endearing pixie smiling cheekily, I found…I liked them.

As I prepared to nod my assent, I looked back to the tragic sight of the bloodless deer, its limbs bent unnaturally. I felt a wave of sadness and guilt at having desecrated the idyllic scene this must have been.

"She should be buried" I said, not entirely sure why, I just felt that the way I'd used the animal was shameful and that it might regain a measure of respect if I buried it.

I looked back at Carlisle and found him looking at me with a pleased smile.

"A salient point, would you allow Jasper to do it, while you and I talk?"

No I wanted to do it myself, it had been _my_ prey, I was about to tell him so when I was again struck by the unnaturalness of my thought process. I had savaged that poor creature and a big part of me wanted nothing more than to find another and _do it again_. Or maybe find something even better, I didn't know how that was even conceivable but I had the strangest instinct that an even more satiating drink was out there somewhere.

Shaking my head, I suddenly wanted nothing more than to get away from the dead animal, and so I was. Once again I found myself thinking and doing things at seemingly the same time I remarked as I was dashing through the trees. Only my mind was clearer now. My instincts and thoughts were merging and the world slowed down, or maybe my mind had sped up. I admired the flight of a nearby sparrow while gracefully vaulting over a felled tree. The forest was all bright greens and warm browns with brilliants splashes of color interspersed throughout and I had the peculiar desire to paint it. An image of me standing in front of a canvas and facing a wild garden flashed through my mind. But when I tried to grasp it more fully, it blew away.

The sense of being herded brought me back to the train of thought that had been running parallel to my trip down memory lane. I was sighting a path through the woodlands, my body responding to the most infinitesimal of commands while subconsciously veering away from the others behind me. Spotting a house full of windows in the distance, my vision sharpened with my curiosity and I immediately discerned several others in the house. I stopped abruptly in concert with the sudden spike of fear at the discovery of this unknown threat. I was out of the house now after all, and I was no longer thirsty, well mostly not, why should I keep obeying this…Carlisle?

"Carlisle she's bolting!" I heard shouted from behind me.

A combination of sounds, smells and even changing air currents at my back told me the one behind me suddenly gained in speed. I also realized that a part of my mind had been keeping track of their location. It struck me as strange that now that I thought about it, I could retrace their exact steps and mine for the last seventeen minutes while having been completely unconscious that I was doing it.

Feeling the black-haired female closing in on me, I pushed my limbs harder and they reacted with absurd ease as I kept going faster and faster. Still keeping track of her, I quickly noticed that I was staring to lose her.

"Bella please wait!" suddenly rang behind me, and somehow something in her voice made me stop against all my instincts. I quickly grabbed a low hanging branch, flipped it and came to a rest on top of it with a dancer's grace. I watched as she approached, she seemed cautious but was sporting a wide smile.

"Thank you for stopping, I wasn't sure if you would" she said in her bell like voice.

I was still wary of her though I wasn't entirely certain as to why. I had trouble reconciling the multiple thoughts I had running parallel and the intense, overbearing emotions I felt at certain things. All the while I was still doing my best to ignore a tiny voice in the back of my mind screaming in horror.

"Will you come back to the house with me?"

My instinctive response was to bolt but as soon as I started to shift my weight to do so, I saw the flash of genuine hurt cross her face and I stopped.

"There's others there…" I said accusingly.

"Yes it's the rest of my family, but don't worry they're safe. They just want to meet you"

I considered Alice, taking in her elfin features, dark choppy hair and large hopeful eyes and I was about to ignore her and take off when I found myself saying.

"Ok"

The beaming smile I got in return was my reward and made my lips twitch ever so slightly as I jumped down the branch and started running towards the house. Its exact position and the path I took to get here were clear as crystal in my mind. I followed the smell of paint, plastic and dust, along with the sweet smell I identified as "people" and quickly found myself on the lawn, staring up at three new individuals.

The two beautiful women and the huge man standing in front of them were smiling at me warmly but warily. I gathered that these must be the remaining members of the "family" that both Carlisle and Alice mentioned.

"Hello" I intoned softly, no reason not to be polite. Despite the fact that a part of me was urging me to tear them apart with my teeth.

They appeared surprised when I spoke, and I realized they had been expecting me to try and attack them.

"Oh…hello my dear, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Esme and these are my…children. Rosalie and Emmett" said the petite women on the right in a warm tone.

I had the peculiar urge to run right up to her and hug her tight for some reason, but the wild and animalistic part of me still recognized her as a potential threat so I stayed still and waited for the others.

They arrived soon enough from behind me and I found myself surrounded on all sides in an obvious move to contain me. They all seemed very tense, but trying not to show it.

No one said a word, they all seemed content to watch me, half wariness and half wonder. I watched them in return, turning slowly and taking them all in one by one, scrutinizing each face while my mind raced at a thousand miles an hour. Finally I stopped on Carlisle.

"You said you would explain"

He took a deep breath and regarded me with a gaze that felt heavy and piercing, but also kind and unendingly patient.

"Of course. You Bella were in an accident…of sorts. And as a result, you have endured a transformation, of your body, of your mind and of your… spirit. It is due to this new state that you have instincts and thoughts that I'm sure must seem very confusing to you. It is also where your newfound thirst comes from."

I processed what he said in a millisecond, analyzing the information he'd given, hinted at or inferred. The sight of the bloodless deer carcass running like a loop in my mind suggested a concept, or an idea that I couldn't seem to grasp, or didn't want to grasp.

"And what is this…new state?"

I received a collective look a pity from the six members of the family as Carlisle answered.

"You Bella, are now a vampire"

The word unlocked a memory, the one that was escaping me before. _Dracula, written by Irish author Bram Stoker in 1897. _I absorbed the myth quickly, stripping it for facts. _Blood-drinkers_, immortals, nocturnal…? I looked up at the sun, obscured by some clouds, but I could still see it perfectly.

"It's day" I said simply while pointing at the sun.

This earned me a pleased and bemused smile from Carlisle and a chuckle from the big dark-haired one.

"Ah…yes. Thankfully most of the popular myths and legends surrounding us are fallacious. We fear neither garlic nor articles of faith, we can be seen in mirrors and while the sun does have an effect on us, it is neither painful nor fatal, just a bit…inconvenient."

"And the rest?"

"The rest … is mostly exact. We are unaging and we survive on blood. Though as you saw earlier, the blood of animals is sufficient to sustain us, so there is no need to seek other…sources"

I stumbled a little when he said sources. He meant people, I knew, like in the book. But not people like him or them…or me. Humans is what he meant. Human beings, something which I _was not_. The little voice inside me grew stronger.

The voice I identified as Bella Swan was screaming now, telling me that this was _wrong, wrong, wrong._ My fingers raked my arms and my marble-like body felt alien to me. All I knew was that this was not what I was supposed to be, but I _couldn't remember _what I was before. The fear was growing stronger and soon turned into uncontrollable rage.

"I'm not…human. I drank from that deer! I drank its blood! That's sick! And I want to do it again... What have you people done to me?!" I screamed at them accusingly.

The looks I got in return were full-on pitying now, especially from the statuesque blonde who looked about ready to burst into tears. I noted all this in a perfectly clinical manner all the while screaming hysterically.

"Calm Bella. Calm…. We're here to help you I promise" said Carlisle in a soothing voice.

But once the rage had set in, it went from a small flame to an inferno in barely an instant, overtaking me completely. Though once again, my fear and anger didn't drive me to attack but rather to run away and I bounded forward in a flash. The gap I chose was between Alice and Esme as they were the smallest and most non-threatening. They had closed ranks and were attempting to grab me when t the last moment I cartwheeled between the two of them with a dancer's grace, my face coming to a mere inch of Alice's as I spun lightly in the air, I couldn't help the wink I gave her as our eyes met.

My feet hit the ground smoothly and I was about to launch myself forward when my instincts screamed at me and I attempted to duck Jasper who had come around. I almost managed it but he snagged my arm at the last moment. This proved to be a mistake.

From the outside it must have looked as if we both had our stings cut as we limply fell to the ground, barring the cry of agony from Jasper. From the inside however, it was something else entirely.

_I looked across the unending salt plains in the night as I ran the numbers through my mind at lightning speed. Alberto's coven was comprised of the same three that he had been using for centuries along with twelve newborns at last count. Maria and I had fifteen, and I would have pitted our own troops against Alberto's brutalized and poorly trained ones even without the advantage of numbers. So why did something feel off? I mentally reviewed the results from our latest scouting parties, comparing them with my long years of experience in warfare to see if I could discern a pattern, perhaps evidence of a trap but I came up blank. I felt greed, amusement and cruelty from behind me, it was a particular bouquet of emotions that I knew better than any other._

"_What's bothering you mi joven soldado?" was whispered in my ear by a saccharine voice as Maria molded herself to my back._

"_I ain't sure we should risk it. I suspect we're being baited… If they've been recruiting in secret or have allied with another coven…"_

"_Ah my sweet bambino, always so cautious. The time is right, Alberto will not be able to sustain my might and once I've gained his territory, we'll be able to launch offensives on all the southern states." She murmured while languidly trailing her hands on my chest._

"_And what of the Voltu-" My question was interrupted when the hand that had been caressing me a second ago was suddenly wrapped around my throat in a vice-like grip._

"_Do __**not**__ speak that word! There will be no more talk of stories and myths told in the dark, entiende?" she spat while squeezing tight and bringing me to my knees._

_I projected my assent and my…submission using my gift, as I was unable to talk. Soon enough her hands resumed their caress and she kissed me sweetly. _Bella._ And all I felt was cold… _Bella_. Bella can you hear me? _Bella… "Bella can you hear me?"

I came back to _**myself**_ crouching on all fours, clutching the earth with all my might. My name was Bella. I was in a forest not a desert. I'd never met anyone named Maria. My name is Bella.

"I'm not sure she can hear us"

All of the Cullens were again surrounding me, barring Jasper and Alice who were a little to the side. The southern vampire was sat on the ground with a pained look on his face, his wife by his side.

"Wait, I think she's coming to"

I tried to order my thoughts and feelings as I regained my identity but I found I couldn't. I was thirsty, worried, excited, **strong**, cautious, horny, patient…all at the same time. I desperately tried to calm myself but feelings were pressing on me like water pouring through cracks, drowning me. Every time I pushed one away, another came even stronger. I switched from wanting to cry, to being terrified, to a deep pleasure between my legs and back again. The end result was some strange spasms as I lay on the earth. What was happening to me?

"Make it stop! Please make it stop" I screamed from the ground, clutching at my heart.

My feelings of caution and worry increased tenfold and I was still so _thirsty, _although it felt less like a raging storm and more like an old companion. I stopped breathing, finding it easier that way and desperately tried to make sense of things once more but it was just too much. Too much fear, too much pain, too much love, too much loneliness, too much lust, too much sorrow… I _needed _to make it stop. And it did. Little by little, the emotions were starting to morph into a pervasive dullness that I could feel seeping through me, _out of me_.

"Jasper I think that's quite enough" came a tired a voice from above me.

"That's not _me_ Carlisle. I can feel it happening but I am _not_ the one doing it"

"But then how…?"

"Deo Gratias, it's _her._"

I suddenly felt greatly surprised and amazed though I had no idea why. I did my best to dull it back again, focusing instinctively on this new sense.

"What?" "Impossible!" "Really?"

"Carlisle, do you mean to say that she has the same ability as Jasper?"

"I'm…not certain. Though I do think it would be best if we were to give her some space, we're all acquainted enough with Jasper's ability to know that we may be more harm than help while all of us are so close. I shall speak to her alone for now."

"Carlisle it's not safe"

"She's right Carlisle. She's a newborn with an unknown ability that laid me out with a single touch, if she gets angry…"

"I'll stay too then! If there's any trouble I'll see it and I'll call kay?"

"Alice…"

"Enough! Young Bella shall be given the same courtesy I afforded each of you before I welcomed you. Now please, wait for us back at home. Alice…you may stay if you wish, and if you remember to temper your feelings"

A wave of fear and love intermingled washed over me, making me gasp from the ground.

"Very well, come along _children_. We'll be just up the house…Feel better my dear, we have so much to tell you"

The pressure lifted with the sound of running feet and a woosh of displaced air as two thirds of the family took off running towards the beautiful glass house. I instantly felt a lot better or rather a lot _less_, but I still felt drained. I had just experienced so many things; a sorrow so powerful it brought tears to my eyes though I instinctively knew I couldn't cry, a desire so intense it set my skin on fire, a fear so biting it drained the heat from my bones, and a love so pure it ached. There was also this strange vision of a desert, a Spanish beauty and thoughts not my own… Feeling distinctly overwhelmed, I pushed it all to the back of my mind. It was absurdly easy now that I concentrated on it. Like my body, my mind was _strong_ and obeyed the tiniest of my commands; facts, memories and concepts were stored and ordered in a great cathedral. Having gained a modicum of control, I stood up.

"Better?" asked Carlisle in the kind voice I was coming to associate with him.

I simply nodded in reply, not trusting myself to speak yet as I tried to make sense of my jumbled thoughts in as detached a manner as was possible. As I reviewed what had just happened in a microsecond, I quickly arrived at a conclusion and decided to test my theory without delay.

"BOOOH!" I yelled while barring my teeth in the most threatening manner I could manage and taking a single step forward. They both reacted like I expected, they jumped back instantly. I immediately felt a spike of fear and caution from out of nowhere. No, out of _them_.

"I was right! They're yours, aren't they? _You_'re afraid! _I_'m not afraid, so just…stop it! Take them back ok? They're too much and they're not mine and I don't want them!"

As I ranted, I watched them come back closer, while at the same time I had this strange echo of them that I couldn't shake. I saw their faces relax, but I also _felt _it, it was rather confusing.

"Ah I see, you were testing your ability weren't you? Rather clever if I do say so myself and very well, hmm…executed." Said Carlisle with a smile, and I sensed his genuine admiration, it made me feel a little better. "As for your…situation, yes, if my suspicions of what has occurred is correct then you are currently feeling the emotions of others close to you as if they were your own."

Having Carlisle put it into words brought a lot of clarity and also a sense of relief, this was clearly something they had experience with, some natural "vampire" trait. I still stumbled on the word but I was so emotionally numb that I simply couldn't freak out about it.

Alice gave me the cheeky smile I was coming to associate with _her_, while infusing me with hope and cheer. It was a pleasant feeling so I focused on it.

"It's okay Bella, I know it's a lot to handle but Jasper can do the same thing, he'll teach you how to control it. He had the same issues in the beginning and-"

"Wait a moment Alice, I believe you're being premature. Bella before we got…interrupted, I was in the process of explaining your nature as a vampire. Perhaps we should pick up where we left off, if you're amenable?"

I felt a wave frustration and strangely, now that I focused on it, it did seem to come from Alice in some indescribable way. It wasn't about direction and more about recognizing _her _emotions from all the rest. It was very strange knowing I was experiencing what she was feeling in real time and it made me question what my own feelings were on the matter. I focused on Carlisle.

"No, I want to know. Why am I feeling all…this, and what were those things I saw?! That…Jasper, it happened when he grabbed me! He did this to me!"

"No Bella! He would never-, and what do you mean _those things I saw_? What did you see?" interjected Alice excitedly.

"I don't know, some desert and a woman…Maria I think, only I wasn't _me_, I was-…"

I was interrupted by a crashing sound coming from inside the house a ways off and a buffeting wave of shock and surprise that sent me to my knees. I still registered the rapid footsteps coming towards us however.

"Jasper!" screamed Alice as her husband burst through. He ignored her however as he asked in a cold voice.

"How do you that name?!"

I recovered quicker from the emotional onslaught now that I recognized it for it was and I was instantly on my feet barring my teeth at him in response.

"Enough!" Carlisle's voice rang in a sharp tone. "Jasper, Alice, if neither of you can show some temperance in this _delicate_ situation, I'll ask you to leave as well." I felt the resulting shame from the two as they settled.

"Now Bella, before you go too far down false assumptions, I'll explain your circumstances as candidly as I can" he continued in a kinder voice while turning towards me. "Some vampires, like Jasper or Alice here, possess a unique ability that allows them to do extraordinary things, even among our kind. I believe that you Bella are one of those that we call _gifted_"

"Ok…so my ability is this…_empathy_. Great. How do I turn it off?"

"Unfortunately these abilities don't come with an "off switch" I'm afraid; they are quite permanent and can sometimes prove more of a curse than a gift. That being said, I don't think that your ability lies in empathy, at least not that type. Am I correct in assuming that you didn't feel any emotions but your own when you woke up? That it was only after your…altercation with Jasper that you began to experience these new feelings?"

"Yes…"

"And, from your words, I gather that you also experienced…something else? A vision of some form?" At my nod he continued in a kind voice while glancing at Jasper. "Might I ask you to describe it to me if you could?"

The memory that I had pushed away came to the forefront of my mind and as I reviewed it, I noticed that it had a very distinctive tinge to it, like blood dripping from the edges. It had been more than just images and sounds though, I had thought, felt and experienced the world as _someone else_. It was perhaps the scariest thing that had happened to me so far because during that time I had forgotten that I was _me._

"Ok…Like I said, I was in a desert, it was dark but I could still see. I was thinking about a plan to raid a…coven, run by someone named Alberto. And something about newborns and training and strategies, I… it's strange, it made perfect sense when I was thinking it or seeing it I guess, but now it's all just jumbled. After that came the woman, Maria. She smelled of dust and blood and she felt…amused and _old_. She was my boss, or my wife maybe, I'm not sure. We talked and then she got enraged when I mentioned…something, I can't remember what exactly but I was afraid of it, more afraid than anything… Something about dark cloaks maybe? I'm sorry, it's like I'm trying to remember something except…"

"Except you don't have the original memory, merely the knowledge that you once possessed it." Interjected Carlisle as I tried to ignore the growing feeling of fascination I felt coming from him along with the pain I felt coming from Jasper.

"Yes exactly!" I exclaimed "So… I'm sure I can make a few guesses but you warned me about false assumptions, so go on, explain"

"Very well, however do bear in my mind that I myself can only guess as well, though I can at least make a slightly more educated one. Before I do however, I'd just like to confirm one last thing. Jasper, am I correct in assuming that the memory she described is one of yours and is…accurate?" He asked, turning towards the scarred vampire.

Jasper himself had a face sculpted from stone, it would have been frightening if I couldn't feel his inner turmoil and the pure comfort, love and support Alice was sending both our ways. The knowledge that the ruthless and militaristic mind I'd been in was his was still unsettling however.

"Yes, what she said was…accurate, frighteningly so in fact"

"Fascinating. I suspect that your ability activates when you come in physical contact with someone else Bella. When Jasper attempted to grab you, you _absorbed_, for lack of a better term, both some of his memories and his talent. It's not uncommon for a gift to manifest itself through touch, in fact your ability seems somewhat similar to another I know of."

"Whose is it?"

"That…is not important right now. Let us concentrate on your own talents, which I must admit appear to be quite extraordinary. I've never heard of any individual that could take on the gifts of others until now."

"Ok so you're saying this feelings thing isn't my real "ability", so that means that it could go away right?" I asked in a decidedly meek voice, focusing on the most immediate problem while processing his explanation.

"I'm afraid I really can't say Bella, as your ability is unknown to me all I can really do is speculate. I'm not even entirely sure what it is you _did_. Jasper what was your experience of Bella's ability?"

The stoic vampire was watching me closely, his face had lost the expressionless mask it had adopted when I was recounting what I supposed was actually his past. I tried to focus on him using my new sense but I was quickly assaulted by a surge of emotions from all around me so I quickly let it go. I did however get the feeling that he was looking at me with…pity.

"It felt like dying."

I looked at him with wide eyes, shocked to my core because of the conclusion I'd come to during Carlisle's explanation.

"I…see. Could you, elaborate on that?" asked the patriarch of the family.

"Very well. In fact I suspect I might provide some…insight. It was painful but not excruciating, not like fire or venom. It was more akin to the pain one might feel when not feeding for a long time." Said Jasper in a gentle tone. "I felt something else however. I felt you…_take_ something. It was like drinking blood…only in reverse. Instead of filling myself with energy, I felt it drain _out_ of me. I'm not certain, but it felt like if I held on…it would kill me."

"Ah, I see. Yes I suppose that makes sense if you-"

"You said you couldn't turn them off. You said "abilities are quite permanent". Does that…Does that mean anyone I ever touch will feel…that?" I interrupted in an increasingly frightened voice.

"I…I don't know Bella. I honestly don't. But we will figure it out I promise you."

But I wasn't listening to Carlisle anymore. This was too much. This foreign and unfamiliar body I'd woken up in felt more and more like a cancer or an infection. My mind felt overwhelmed, zinging in ten different directions at the same time from the numerous wonders that captured my attention all around me; and now I had to contend with feelings and thoughts that didn't even _belong _to me, infecting my mind with even more stimuli. I just wanted the world to slow down and I instinctively focused on that strange feeling I had earlier that had helped me calm down. The familiar dullness came seeping out of me and calmed me down a little, taking the edge of the rage and fear I had felt bubbling inside me.

"Bella…Bella would you mind toning it down a mite darlin'?" asked Jasper in a slow voice.

"Toning what down?"

"Ah, of course. You don't know you're doing it. I used to do the same thang in the beginning. That calm and apathy you're feeling now, you're making yourself feel that with your…my, abilty."

"Ok, so?"

"I mean you're making yourself feel that _through_ us. You see, in addition to feeling the emotions of others, I can also project and manipulate them. That's what you're doing right now. You're sending us waves of stillness and calm and focusing on our emotions to calm your own. It's an instinctive trick because my…our ability doesn't work on ourselves."

The explanation somehow made sense, as long as one managed to fit vampires and superpowers into one's worldview of course. Something I still wasn't sure I had managed, despite my rather…first-hand experience. Jasper's little speech had also conveniently cut off my impeding freak out over Carlisle's latest revelation.

"Oh, sorry I guess?"

"That's quite alright Bella, we're all well acquainted the effects of Jasper's talent. Now, if you don't mind, I propose that we leave the matter of your ability for a little while so that you may properly meet the rest of our family, if you feel you are able of course?"

The memory of being flooded by the feelings of the entire family came back to me unbidden but I pushed it away. I could do this. I still wasn't entirely sure who I was aside from the fact that my name was Isabella Swan but I knew one thing. I wasn't a coward.

"Ok"

I made my way up to the house at once, only to pause and turn around when I saw them walking up the lawn at a maddeningly slow pace.

"Why are you all walking so slowly?"

"We weren't my dear" answered Carlisle as he joined me "we were merely moving at a more…human pace"

"I…ok" Were they really? Then how fast was had I been moving all this time? I questioned while intensely ignoring the chorus of _you're not human, you're not human!_

I shifted my focus to the house I had just entered, looking this way and that, taking it all in. The myriad of colors, surfaces and reflections was absolutely enchanting. I let my hands spread out beside me, touching everything in sight while my bare feet were splayed wide on the floor. A desperate need to experience everything was overtaking me, but I pushed it down as I had all the others. I could smell the three others in the living room and was about to introduce myself, when I caught something out of the corner of my eye which made me whip around and bare my teeth.

A figure was facing me. She had long and flowing auburn hair falling on one side of her face which should have been tangled and wild but appeared only stylishly windblown. She had large doe eyes that might have reminded her of the deer if not for the fact that they were _blood_ red. She had a heart shaped face that would have been beautiful were it not twisted in a snarl. Her rosy lips were smeared with blood that dribbled down the front of her white sundress. Her petite and lithe form, managing to convey both sweetness and sin, would have been right at home as a young ingénue on the canvas of a Raphael or a Renoir if not for its unnatural stillness and its predatory stance.

It was the blood that I could see on her lips and feel on mine that made the connection. This vision of fallen innocence was not a threat or another member of this family (though it might yet be both), this was _me_.

Had I always been that way? I tried to picture myself in my mind's eye but I couldn't seem to quite manage it. I kept thinking about two other faces that were becoming clearer, my parents I _knew_. That person in the mirror had barely looked like them at all, had barely looked human…

"Are you alright sweetie?" a caramel voice spoke sweetly from my right. Esme she had said.

"I…yes. I was just…startled." I responded in a meek voice, embarrassed at my reaction and at not recognizing _myself._

"Would you perhaps like a change of clothes, or I can run you a bath if you'd like?"

The words evoked a memory of a vanilla scented bathroom and of my mother's laughing _face_ blowing away bubble bath. But the memory was distant, hazy. I still had trouble picturing myself in those few glimpses of my past, as if I faded away to make way for things more important to remember.

"Why can't I remember? I'm trying to remember things but they're just…I should remember my mother's face! But it's all…grey and dull. Which doesn't make any sense because everything is so bright and loud and clear. Why can't I remember _her _like _that_?"

I glimpsed to my right at the shocked face of the caring woman and felt embarrassed all over again at my outburst when all she'd done was try to be kind.

"I…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

I was cut off by her moving forward but stopping abruptly. I might have responded violently if not for the fact that I was literally buffeted by motherly love and concern. I idly realized that she had been about to hug me before stopping herself.

"Hush my dear, hush. You have _nothing_ to be sorry for. None of this is your fault do you understand? But enough of that, would you like that bath after all or…?"

"No I'm ok. If it's all the same I still have some questions…"

"Then we should adjourn to the living room if you wouldn't mind Bella?" said Carlisle as he came up beside us, wrapping his arm casually around Esme.

I nodded and followed after them in a beautiful living room that spoke of wealth and taste. Though since I couldn't seem to recall a single other living room I wasn't sure how I was making that distinction. I pushed it to the back of my mind along with the myriad of other things that didn't make sense and focused on what I was doing, which at moment was ignoring with all my might the overwhelming mass of emotions I was feeling surrounded once again by the whole _family_. It was easier now that I understood that I wasn't the one feeling all of this, as I wasn't trying to rationalize emotions that didn't come from me. It was still hard though, mostly because it made everything so damn confusing.

The room's occupants seemed to match their surroundings perfectly, all beautiful and refined with nary a perfectly coiffed hair out of place. Knowing that I, myself, was looking more like a bloodstained savage made me vaguely self-conscious and I had the strangest memory of…fidgeting, what a peculiar act.

"How are you feeling Bella? We can always resume our conversation outside if you're…."

"No, I'm fine. It's better now that I…understand. I'm fine"

"Very well. Before I begin answering the myriad of questions that I'm sure you have, I thought we might introduce ourselves a little more formally. My name is Carlisle Cullen, I was born in 1640 in London and I'm currently a doctor at Forks General. This is my wife Esme and our children, for all intents and purposes, Rosalie and her husband Emmet, along with Jasper and his wife Alice."

Did he just 1640? The handsome young man in front of me was nearly four hundred years old? The idea seemed absolutely ludicrous even counting vampires and I would have laughed and dismissed it if I hadn't _felt it_. All around me and somehow from Carlisle in particular permeated this sense of _age _that was completely at odds with the shiny and polished look of the room and its occupants. The feeling was hard to describe but it was though he was as looking at everything from a great distance, where days and weeks gave way to decades and centuries.

"Ok…I'm Bella, I mean _Isabella_…Swan. I'm…not sure how old I am or where I was born for that matter…"

"Oh that's quite alright Bella I wasn't expecting anything. The fact that you're having difficulty remembering your…former life is perfectly normal, the transformation is a very harrowing experience and there's no telling what might have been lost forever or what you might yet recover."

_Burn! Fire clawing at my flesh, tearing me apart! Fingers ripping out my own hair by the root, tearing at my own skin to make the pain lessen! Burn, burn, burn…This was the darkest pit of hell, the deepest abyss…__**Burn!**__ This was a scorching inferno, a blistering furnace…Burn…_

I came back to myself, the episode having lasted barely a fraction of a second during which I had gone completely rigid. It had been when Carlisle had mentioned the transformation…_Fire burning me…_that a memory had ripped through me with the force of a tornado. I knew know that the memory of the fire, of the pain had been a constant in my thoughts since waking up but I had been unconsciously blocking it out, unwilling to even contemplate that kind of agony.

"Are you alright Bella?" asked Jasper in the slow Southern drawl I was coming to associate with him. In a bout of clarity I understood that he must have felt what I felt.

"I'm fine. I was just…remembering. When Carlisle spoke of the transformation, I just…remembered." I finished lamely, the spike of pain marking their own remembrance told me they understood though.

"I apologize Bella, I should have known better than to remind you of that. I would however counsel you to try and hold on to those few memories you possess of…before. More and more should start coming back to you but if you don't focus on them, they'll begin to…slip away." Said the four-hundred year old vampire.

As he spoke I tried to consciously pull a memory that took place before I woke up in the sun filled room but I couldn't seem to manage it aside from the few memories I already had.

"I'm trying but apart from people who I'm pretty sure are my parents, a wild garden, a vanilla-scented bathroom and…a field covered in bright red flowers, I _can't_ remember-"

"What did you say?" interrupted Jasper and I felt a sharp burst of surprise coming from him. "The field…the memory of the field with the red flowers, describe it"

Once I'd unlocked my limbs after stopping my impulse to tear his head off for interrupting me (but then I had the impulse to tear almost anything I noticed apart), I processed his question. A notion creeping up my spine made me answer him.

"I remember a large field covered almost entirely in red…tulips I think, it was sunset and it almost looked as though the entire field was on fire. There was this cool breeze coming from the south. I could smell the tulips and something else…something fresh and heavy, I'm not sure…"

"Gardenias…that scent, fresh almost tropical, that was the gardenias that grew on Judson Buford's farm, right next to a great field filled with wild flowers…a couple miles from where I grew up in Texas." Finished Jasper in a nostalgic tone while looking at me in amazement, and tiny bit of fear I noted in my shocked state.

Because I knew that he was telling the truth, that memory wasn't one of mine but I'd been so sure…What else had I took from him? What was left of me? I couldn't recognize my face in the mirror, I didn't want to recognize my actions (I thought of tearing the deer's flesh apart with my razor-like teeth to reach the throbbing vein), I couldn't differentiate between my own feelings and everyone else's and now even those few memories that I had clung to for identity were slipping away from me, unsure if they were mine or that damnable Jasper's or a figment of my imagination…

A potential threat approaching made me snap my head upwards.

"Bella are you-"

"Get back Carlisle, I think she's about to-"

A red haze had overtook me again, a rage so profound and overwhelming it seized my limbs and propelled me towards the vampire doctor in a flash but he had already started moving back. What followed was a strange dance with me trying to tear apart anything I could get my hands on and the rest of the family scrambling in all directions to avoid touching me. The entire episode took less than a second and as Rosalie had started a mad dash out the window, Emmett was hanging of the ceiling and Jasper was keeping a tactical distance, Alice burst out of nowhere and stopped right in the middle of my path.

My fingers stopped barely a quarter of an inch from her throat, and would have grazed it if she had any need to breath. But she didn't, she just looked at me with a smile so wide it threatened to break free.

I withdrew my fingers slowly, terrified of touching her and being subjected to another "incident" and yet at the same time a little curious as well. Still, I let my hands fall to my side and fixed her with annoyed glare while the rest of the family settled back in.

"Why did you do that?" I demanded.

"I _knew_ you wouldn't hurt me Bella, but I also knew that Emmett would throw a fit if you broke the TV so…" she replied in an airy voice still beaming at me.

"How could you know that when I didn't?" I said, still a bit frightened of how close I had just come to tearing her head off. On a purely practical matter, I also didn't want to have to deal with whatever strange curse she had or the memories of her Great-Aunt Murielle or something.

"Actually you know what? You're right, for once I didn't _know_, I guess I just had faith in you" she said with a cat ate the canary grin.

"I…ok, I guess. Sorry about umm…you know, and I'm glad I didn't break the TV…" My anger dying with the warmth and _trust_ she felt for me and that once again I couldn't help but reciprocate, even though I felt like I was somehow missing something.

Esme came forward and once again looked as though she'd very much like to hug me but settled for a gentle smile.

"That's quite alright my dear, no one was harmed and those kinds of things are to be expected with people in your…condition. Why, if I remember correctly Emmett actually broke several TV's as well, along with doors, couches, windows-"

"Allright, allright, no need to go through all the list. And it's not as if anybody could stand to watch that old 40-inch black and white RCA for more than ten minutes, I did you all a favor by putting it through that wall-"

"Sure you did honey bear" said Rosalie while taking her husband's arm and fixing me with a wary glance (although I think I might have mistaken it for hateful without my new talent).

Everyone seemed to take my latest violent outburst rather congenially even though I could feel that the general unease had racked up a notch. I thought it might be due of the fact that none of them seemed to be willing to _touch_ me thanks of this _ability_ of mine, and that they hadn't been expecting that. After all, I could see them touching each other without doubling over in pain, so it clearly wasn't a common occurrence. Carlisle had mentioned someone else with a curse (I couldn't think of it in any other way) that was similar to mine though.

"Esme is perfectly right Bella, it takes time to adjust to being…what we are and eventually you'll find that most of these urges _will_ abate. If it means anything I can tell you that you seem to be dealing with all of this rather well, very well in fact. You might not think so but you've actually shown great composure thus far, it speaks of a very strong will" said Carlisle in his all-knowing tone of voice which nevertheless did make me feel better.

"Being what we are…_Vampires_"

"Yes…I know it might seem hard to-"

"How?"

"Pardon me? What do you mean Bella?"

"_How_? How did I become…what we are. You never said…"

"Well-"

"Because that's not right the question is it? The question isn't _how_, I can guess how. The right question is _**who**_,isn't it? _**Who was it that did this me ?!"**_

It was at that point that I finally listened to my instincts screaming at me to turn around.

Someone else had come into the room and he looked…familiar.

Thus ends chapter 2.


End file.
